Stop Making Excuses: Improve Your Business, Increase Your Profits

Legitimate excuses. No excuses.

What's yours? We all have them.

A legitimate excuse is the reason you say you can't do something.

I hear a lot of legitimate excuses. I hear them from clients during coaching calls and, boy, do I hear them during sales conversations.

Legitimate excuses I hear from clients are:

-I can't speak with potential clients until I have the particulars of a program worked out or a sales page completed.
-I can't go to a networking event until I figure out what to say in my elevator pitch.
-I can't do any sales calls because I haven't decided which follow up system to use.
-I need to do more research so I can choose the best one.

A potential client may tell me:

-I have 3 more coaches to speak with before I make a decision.
-I need to incorporate all the things I've already learned before I embark on a new program.
-I am in debt, won't go in debt or don't have enough cash flow to invest in something.
-I am in several other programs right now and don't have the bandwidth to do another one.
-I promised myself that before I sign up for a program to grow my business I would get two new clients.

Nobody questions legitimate excuses, not even you. After all, they're true.

The question you should ask yourself is, is your legitimate excuse really legitimate? Is it a valid reason to say no? If the answer is no, it is not.

Even though your excuse is valid it often represents an easy way out.

They allow you to escape a challenge, an uncomfortable situation, a commitment, or something that you are afraid of. They give you a good excuse to stop yourself, an escape clause.

Want to know what my "legitimate excuse" has been?

My kids.

I take my role as a mom very seriously. I believe it is my job to make sure my kids get to where they need to be, to be there when they get home from school, to make sure there is food in the house and dinner on the table each night. I started my business so that I could be with my family.

I put off joining a mastermind group that would require traveling for four years. I didn't go to a networking event if it met before or after school. It was a legitimate excuse. Who could question it? I didn't.

Then I challenged myself. What was saying no protecting me from? Didn't I want to grow my business? How would taking this risk help me?

Family comes first for me, but there are times I need to step back and realize that putting my business first allows me to give my family and me what we need. So, I joined a mastermind that required some travel, went to selected evening networking events and did not go to early morning events.

So what does this mean for you?

There are times to finish up what you've already got on your plate, pay attention to your cash flow and yes, put your family first. There are also times when you owe it to yourself to take a moment to make a decision and not just fall back on a stock response.

Make a real decision. Challenge yourself. Figure out why you are really saying yes or no. Take a moment to uncover what would happen if you did it.

Finally, remember what's right for you isn't necessarily what's right for someone else. Don't judge others for the decisions they make and don't make your decisions based on fear of what other people will say about you.